INTERSECTIONAL AND BIOSOCIAL PATHWAYS TO COGNITIVE FUNCTION AMONG OLDER HISPANICS AND LATINOS

Abstract Hispanics/Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of older adults in the United States (U.S.). They are at high risk for cognitive impairment (CI) and Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRD). While increased research attention has been given to the socioeconomic and cultural factors that influence the prevention, diagnosis, and care provided to Hispanics/Latinos with CI and ADRD, there are still theoretical and methodological gaps in clarifying the mechanisms and pathways that produce ADRD inequities, including life course and multilevel mechanisms. Given the diverse origins of Hispanics/Latinos in the U.S. – in ethnic origin, birthplace, and current residence – it is crucial to understand how these social conditions get “under the skin” that influence cognitive function in older adulthood. Namely, it is important to unpack how different intersectional positions show different relationships with deprivation that influence cognitive and healthy aging. Thus, this study had two main objectives: (1) to examine the mediating role of physiological (dys)regulation between education and cognition, and (2) to understand for which Hispanic/Latino subgroups the interrelated relationships are stronger/weaker for. Correspondingly, we employed multigroup structural equation modeling to address our study objectives. We used data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to discern and assess the effects between education, physiological factors, and cognitive function at baseline and follow-up by Hispanic/Latino subgroups (e.g., foreign-born Mexicans, U.S.-born Mexicans, island-born Puerto Ricans, foreign-born Cubans, etc.). The results from this study underscore the role of structural interventions and community engagement in reducing and eliminating cognitive health disparities among Hispanics/Latinos.

find a robust independent influence of education on ADRD risk, early life family environments had little impact on the relationship.Adolescent cognition, however, which we show is influenced by family environments, does partly explain why educational attainment influences later life ADRD risk, though both adolescent IQ and education independently influence the risk for and resilience against dementia.

SECONDARY SCHOOL CURRICULAR RIGOR AND COGNITIVE FUNCTION AT AGE 81 Sara Moorman, Boston College, Boston, Massachusetts, United States
A current goal is to identify how and for whom years of educational attainment translate into high cognitive function in later life.Recent work has found effects of school quality factors such as teacher experience and racial integration of schools.In this project, I examine secondary school curriculum.Not only is there variation in curriculum across school districts, but also adolescents within a single secondary school select different courses.Curricular opportunities and selections may change the developing brain in lasting ways, and/or may place the student on a path towards future academic and career opportunities that shape risk and resilience.I hypothesize that a rigorous secondary school curriculum positions students to attend college, which in turn promotes lifelong cognitive health.I tested this hypothesis by estimating multilevel structural equation models in data from the Wisconsin Longitudinal Study (WLS), which follows a randomly-selected one-third of all students who graduated from Wisconsin high schools in 1957 (N = 10,317).I created a latent measure of curricular rigor out of participants' highest secondary school math course and number of semesters of English, science, and foreign language.In 2020 (most participants were age 81), participants completed a phone-based cognitive screening (Telephone Interview for Cognitive Status-Modified; TICS-m).Net of school-level factors, parental socioeconomic status, and academic achievement, higher curricular rigor predicted higher cognitive function at age 81.Educational attainment significantly mediated this effect, and a significant direct effect also remained.Both educational attainment and curricular rigor are desirable targets for policy interventions.
Hispanics/Latinos are the fastest-growing segment of older adults in the United States (U.S.).They are at high risk for cognitive impairment (CI) and Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD).While increased research attention has been given to the socioeconomic and cultural factors that influence the prevention, diagnosis, and care provided to Hispanics/Latinos with CI and ADRD, there are still theoretical and methodological gaps in clarifying the mechanisms and pathways that produce ADRD inequities, including life course and multilevel mechanisms.Given the diverse origins of Hispanics/Latinos in the U.S. -in ethnic origin, birthplace, and current residence -it is crucial to understand how these social conditions get "under the skin" that influence cognitive function in older adulthood.Namely, it is important to unpack how different intersectional positions show different relationships with deprivation that influence cognitive and healthy aging.Thus, this study had two main objectives: (1) to examine the mediating role of physiological (dys)regulation between education and cognition, and (2) to understand for which Hispanic/Latino subgroups the interrelated relationships are stronger/weaker for.Correspondingly, we employed multigroup structural equation modeling to address our study objectives.We used data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to discern and assess the effects between education, physiological factors, and cognitive function at baseline and follow-up by Hispanic/Latino subgroups (e.g., foreign-born Mexicans, U.S.-born Mexicans, island-born Puerto Ricans, foreignborn Cubans, etc.).The results from this study underscore the role of structural interventions and community engagement in reducing and eliminating cognitive health disparities among Hispanics/Latinos.Abstract citation ID: igad104.0005

STATE-LEVEL EDUCATION CONTEXT AS A MODERATOR OF GENETIC RISK FOR POOR COGNITIVE FUNCTION ACROSS GENDER AND COHORT
Eleanor Kerr 1 , Pamela Herd 2 , and Katrina Walsemann 1 , 1. University of Maryland, College Park, College Park, Maryland, United States, 2. Georgetown University, Washington, District of Columbia, United States APOE, specifically the e4 allele, is the strongest known genetic risk factor for late-onset dementia.Individuals with at least one copy of the e4 allele have a 3-15 times higher risk for dementia, and faster rates of cognitive decline, than those without it.Although education has been shown to moderate this relationship, the quality of U.S. education improved significantly over the first seven decades of the 20th century and saw greater access to educational opportunities among women.In this historical context, it is important to consider if genetic risk for poor cognitive function changes across successive cohorts and if it does so differentially by gender.Consequently, we use genetic and cognition data from the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) linked to state-level data on educational quality available from 1920-1974.Given well-known differences in the effect of APOE genotype on dementia risk based on global and local ancestry, we restrict our sample to non-Hispanic White men (n=5,256) and women (n=6,857) who provided at least one observation on cognitive function from 2006 -2018.We examine the relationship across three measures of cognition -global functioning, episodic memory, and numeracy.We estimate gender and cohort stratified linear mixed models and determine if states with well-resourced education systems mitigate the genetic risk on cognitive health associated with the e4 allele and compare this relationship across cohorts for men and women.These results can help inform our understanding about how early life education can differentially shape genetic risk for cognitive decline in later life.

AGE-FRIENDLY AND AGING IN PLACE
Abstract citation ID: igad104.0006

AGE-FRIENDLY ENVIRONMENT PROMOTES WELL-BEING IN PEOPLE WITH SUBJECTIVE MEMORY IMPAIRMENT Odelyah Saad, Lev Academic Center, Jerusalem, Yerushalayim, Israel
Objectives Older people with cognitive impairment are more likely to feel lonely and to have lower well-being compared to others (Shankar et al., 2017).One way to overcome difficulties and loneliness is to live in an Age Friendly Environment (AFE) (Gibney et al., 2020).Living in an AFE enables older people to stay active even when function deteriorates (Cramm et al., 2018) and thus-maintain low loneliness and high well-being (Domènech-Abella et al., 2021).Approximately 18%-25% of people aged 60 and over whose objective cognitive function is normal report a subjective cognitive impairment (Röhr et al., 2020;Zullo et al., 2021).They are less active (Parikh et al., 2016) and so, they are lonelier (Montejo Carrasco et al., 2020).The aim of this study was to examine whether living in an AFE enables people coping with subjective memory impairment to maintain higher well-being than those who don't.Methods Applying a correlational study design, 105 community dwelling older adults (mean age 74.5; SD-6.54), 62% of whom were women, were recruited.Hayes' PROCESS macro (Model 7) assessed relationships between socio-demographic data, subjective social support (SS), loneliness, a sense of belonging, AFE, active ageing and negative affect (NA).Results Findings demonstrated a significant indirect association between age-friendly environments and negative affect, which was moderated by subjective memory impairment.Moreover, we found an interaction between AFE and memory..Those with SMI experienced less loneliness in an AFE In conclusion, AFE is crucial for individuals with SMI to reduce loneliness and negative affect.Conclusion This study is the first to show that when AFE is low, people with subjective memory impairment cope with more loneliness compared to those without it, but when AFE is high then there is no difference in the level of loneliness between people with or without subjective memory impairment.Hence, AFE is especially significant for those coping with subjective memory impairment for reducing loneliness and negative affect.Authorities should strive to create AFE to promote active aging and high WB of older people living in the community.